Ranting, raving, reviewing, and reporting from people who love to make films.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

A FILM REVIEW FROM ROD?

Yes, that's right. But I am no critic. I will be vocal about the movies that I see and am inspired by. United 93 is one of those films. I recently had the opportunity to view this picture and am glad that I did. I realized by the end that I barely took my eyes off the screen. It was shot documentary style, as if someone was merely holding a camcorder capturing the events as they unfolded. I like that, in this case, because it really got me more into the story than fancy camera angles and dolly shots, etc. The movie is also in realtime, closely following the events of that pivotal morning in American history as they unfold.

Strong in my memory, the events that unfolded that day. I remember doing my morning pre-work ritual that included making breakfast and getting caught up with the news. I remember turning on the TV in my room and saw CNN reporting that a small plane had hit the World Trade Center. Oddly enough, days before this incident, I watched a show on the history channel about a bomber that accidentally hit the Empire State Building in the 40s and the newscaster made that comparison as well. I was thinking about how odd it was that something like that could happen in this day and age. I ran out to the livingroom and turned on the set, my roommate at the time walked and asked me, "Are you watching this? How could a pilot not see those buildings?" After a few quick back and fourth comments between us we were off to work. Neither one of us realized what was unfolding in front of us until we got to work. I could pinpoint the spot in the movie where I came in with that viewing of CNN, so I was felt attached to the characters for that reason.

As a passenger, you are already in a situation that is not in your control and your trust is in the guy in pilots seat. For some of us, there is a little comfort knowing that there is someone who is trained to be there is there with confidence. Imagine that bit of comfort was taken away in such a violent manner. I watched as I remembered the events of that day.

As the movie ended, I found myself sitting there in silence. It was an emotional rollercoaster, I felt anger, dismay, and was just downright uncomfortable. The movie did it's job... It was a film that was not meant to entertain you, not full of special effects, but to visually tell the story of the people who took a stand and didn't let the madness of the day continue. They were headed for the capitol and they couldn't let that happen. It was a job well done... I would recommend this film to everyone.